Labor and Delivery

Unless you have talked to someone who has had a baby in the last 5 minutes, don’t believe what you hear. I had everyone telling me what labor and delivery was going to be like, and basically the things that I was worried about did not even occur.

Here is my story. (If you are pregnant, don’t think these things are necessarily going to happen to you, because they are changing things constantly.)

Wednesday, July 7, I started my day out just like any other day. I got up and went to work until about noon. I came home, showered and got my bag and mom picked me up and I left my house knowing the next time I came home my life would be completely different. Mom, dad and I headed to Baptist East OB Triage and I checked in. I got hooked up to all the monitors and just sat. Wade came after work and mom and dad left. (I knew nothing exciting was going to happen for a while, so Wade worked a full day, went home and got the rest of my stuff) A lady from AUM nursing school came in to ask if I minded if they had students following the nurses. I honestly wanted to say “NO” but I am too nice and I said sure. Well they didn’t tell me they would be doing things. I thought they would just watch. One of the students did my IV in my hand and let me tell you. I think that was the first she had done. It HURT. Like IV’s do not bother me, but this one hurt so bad. More on that later. The doctor on call came by around 5 and checked my progress…nothing…so we started the meds right then. That night was pretty boring. Frazier and Jonathan came by and brought me some dinner and we just chatted. I got another dose at 11 and then at 3 when I was checked I had made it to 2 cm so they skipped the last dose and decided to start the pitocin earlier than they had planned. I was getting excited thinking that things were going right on track. Well, when Dr. Phillips came by that morning he was going to break my water but decided that it was too early and told me the plan for the day. The doctor on call was going to come by around lunch time and check my progress and then text Dr. P to tell him his opinion about how things were going. Right after he left, they asked if I wanted the epidural. I imagined being in severe pain before being able to get that but I told them to go ahead and do it. Thank goodness I did, because I found out later that they had some issues with some peoples and a lot of c sections, etc so if I had not gotten it right then and there, there was a good possibility I wouldn’t have gotten one anytime soon. So getting the epidural….not at all what I was told or expected. Most accurate description came from my sister that morning via phone. She said the worst part was getting the medicine to numb your back. That was true. That shot HURT, but thankfully I was not in pain from contractions so the only pain I felt was that. It was a little strange getting the epidural and starting to feel numb. Land, the anesthesiologist was wonderful. He just chatted with me about Wades business because he saw a contractors book on the table that Wade had been reading and made me feel really comfortable. After he finished I had to lay down so that the meds would distribute evenly. Well I started to feel sick and then consequently got sick…I am not sure if it was laying back so quickly (vertigo) or the meds, but eventually I got some nausea medicine and I felt better. After the epidural kicked in I just had to lay there. It was the weirdest feeling not having control of anything. Anyway, the on call doctor was running really behind so Dr. Phillips ended up coming back in around 1 and checked me again. He ended up breaking my water and said that he was going to come back around 4 and if I had not made any more progress we were going to do a c-section. I started to get anxious as it neared 4 because I realized I would either have my baby very soon or just sit there and keep laboring until he decided it was time to come. Well, around 4 15 he came back in, checked, no more progress so he decided that a c section was the best move at this point. The next 30 mins were the biggest blur. Nurses and another anesthesiologist came rushing in to prep me for the surgery. Wade was getting dressed in his scrubs and I started to get wheeled down the hall. I all of a sudden started to really realize what was going to happen. Someone had told me that they strapped your arms down (huge fear of mine is not having control of my arms because I am very claustrophobic), took off any nail polish to be able to check your nail color (I had just gotten a manicure the day before and was annoyed that I had just wasted my time and money) and made you stare into the anesthesiologist eyes to make sure something wasn’t going funky (with your pupils I think..)  As I got on the table I saw all these bright lights and my first thought was, “oh my gosh how am I going to keep my eyes open during this surgery, the dr is going to have to hold my eyes open!!!” Then I thought, “Crap, my pretty nail polish they are going to have to take off, when am I going to have time to get one nail repainted” Then they told me to spread my arms out wide onto these things that came out from under the table. Didn’t strap them down. Well I talked to Dr. Phillips for a second and then they put the big blue sheet up. Everyone was walking around talking about random (non baby) stuff and I just closed my eyes, waiting to be strapped down and told to open my eyes. Every few minutes I would open them and noticed that everyone seemed to be just walking around and talking about life. It was like I was at a party or something. Then literally all of a sudden I heard a cry. I was like “WHAT???” I was so confused. Why had they not taken my polish off, why had they not strapped my arms down, why did the anesthesiologist not made me keep my eyes open?? We had a wonderful nurse Kristy Gay from our Sunday School class who grabbed the camera from Wade and was taking pictures (thank goodness!!) because I think Wade was in shock too that Mac had been born. It was really crazy.

Anyway, Wade Wilson McClendon, junior was born at 4:48pm and weighed 8 lbs 5 oz. He was 19 ½ inches long. It was the most amazing thing in the world to see him for the first time. When people say that you fall in love with your child immediately, that couldn’t be truer. It was the most amazing feeling and I feel so blessed to have him here and that he is so happy and healthy. This past week has been one the most emotional, and challenging weeks of my life but at the same time it has been the best week of my life.